Asian Shares Mixed, Hong Kong Tumbles After Protests
Hong Kong: Asian markets were mixed Monday with Hong Kong tumbling more than two per cent after a weekend of unrest as pro-democracy demonstrations led to the closure of parts of the southern Chinese city.
The stand-off, the worst since the handover in 1997, saw police fire tear gas into crowds of thousands of protestors on Sunday and has led to the closure of several businesses, bank branches and schools.
Protest leaders have vowed to not back down until Beijing gives in to their demands for full universal suffrage.
In early trade Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped 2.31 per cent, with the city's banking giants taking a heavy hit. HSBC was down 0.96 per cent, Hang Seng Bank was 1.50 per cent lower and Standard Chartered lost 1.40 per cent.
The HSI was already on a downtrend owing to concerns about the Chinese economy following a string of weak indicators recently. It has lost 6.5 per cent since hitting its 2014 high at the start of the month.
Elsewhere, Sydney slipped 0.30 per cent, but Shanghai climbed 0.54 per cent, while Tokyo added 0.61 per cent and Seoul was 0.15 per cent higher.
Japanese shares ticked up as the dollar pushed up against the yen, heading towards the 110 yen mark after US data showed the economy expanded at its fastest pace since 2011 during the April-June quarter.
Gross domestic product grew 4.6 per cent, the Commerce Department said, better than the previous 4.2 per cent estimate.
The figure shows a strong rebound from the first quarter's 2.1 per cent contraction, which was blamed in part on unusually severe winter weather that hit the country.
The news sent the dollar higher in New York, hitting 109.28 in late trade Friday. On Monday the greenback bought 109.42 yen.
It also rose against the euro. In Tokyo Monday the single currency was at $1.2678 compared with $1.2683.
The euro was also at 138.74 yen, from 138.60 yen.
Wall Street provided a strong lead for Asia, with the Dow rising 0.99 per cent, the S&P 500 adding 0.86 per cent and the Nasdaq rallying 1.02 per cent.
On oil markets US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery eased 53 cents to $93.01 while Brent crude for November fell 27 cents to $96.73.
Gold was at $1,218.74 an ounce against $1,223.10 late Friday.
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